NEWARK, NJ – When college students flush their toilets, especially at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, that’s not the end of the road for their urine and feces. According to an article at NJ Spotlight this week, project engineers at the university are now testing sewage for COVID-19.
Because of those readings, every student at Cypress Hall was quarantined after the finding, according to NJIT Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Golden. Students would be barred from activities and facilities on campus until they return a COVID-19 negative test, even though none of the students showed any symptoms. Golden said testing the students’ raw sewage is a good indicator for the university to use as an early warning system.
When there’s COVID-19 in the poop, there’s probably COVID-19 in the dorm.
To get to the poop, project engineers ran a tube down into a manhole near the dorm and pumped out the contents and test for COVID-19 weekly. According to engineers, COVID-19 samples can be found in urine and feces long before carriers exhibit systems.
300 students were affected by the lockdown.